Tag Archives: Barossa

On the second of a two-part edition of Let’s Taste, I continue to look at wines from Pewsey Vale that have recently been released. ‘The Contours’ is considered to be one of Australia’s best riesling wines, and I was honoured to be able to compare two vintages of this wine side-by-side. Let me know what you think in the comments below, and feel free to recommend some more rieslings for me to try!

Share this:

Like this:

Very excited on this edition of Let’s Taste to look at the 2017 rieslings from Pewsey Vale, particularly having tasted across the 2016 wines previously. The big difference on this occasion is there is a new wine to the range, and it was fascinating seeing how it fit in with the other wines of the same vintage. Let me know what you think in the comments below, and stand by for a part two looking at two different vintages of The Contours Riesling.

Hard to believe, but this is actually the first recorded edition of Let’s Taste for 2018, and it happens to be at an entirely new location. My young family have just moved house (a fun exercise during vintage to say the least), and I was excited to taste some perennial favourites at the new address!

Yalumba is one of Australia’s most important wine producers, with an incredible range from iconic to approachable. The ‘Y Series’ range has always represented outstanding value, and I happily opened the range of chilled wines from the 2017 vintage. Let me know what you think in the comments below, many thanks to Yalumba for sending the samples!

Like so many in the industry, Brian Walsh got into the wine business almost by accident. As a teenager from the McLaren Vale, he was more interested in surfing that wine, but needing a job he took what was intended as a temporary position with Chateau Reynalla. He spent 20 years working in the McLaren Vale before accepting the position of chief winemaker at Yalumba in the Barossa in 1988. After an incredible 26 years he stepped away from full-time winemaking, and now sits on a number of industry boards, including the chair of Wine Australia.

I love fortified wines, but like pretty much every wine drinker in the world, I don’t drink them anywhere near as often as I should. Australia has a rich tradition of producing high quality fortified wines, and the Barossa region in South Australia is only second to the Rutherglen region as far as acclaim. Yalumba have been around more than long enough to build up a library of wine to blend an outstanding tawny, which they have in this Museum Reserve Antique Tawny. I was thrilled to share my impressions of this wine on the YouTube channel, and I’m very interested to hear what you think in the comments below!

As a teenager, Fiona Donald sent a letter to Len Evans after reading an article he wrote, asking him how one might enter the wine industry. He encouraged her to study to be a winemaker at the best place in the country at the time; Roseworthy College. Since graduating in 1990 Fiona has worked for some of Australia’s most important wine companies in many of Australia’s finest regions. Her work since 2009 as the chief winemaker of Seppeltsfield has brought her the most joy and the most acclaim, and has revitalised one of the country’s most historic wineries.

For the past fourteen years, Ashley Ratcliff has worked for arguably Australia’s most important family-owned wine business, Hill-Smith Family Vineyards. Over those years he worked in many different elements of the business, from viticulture to marketing, operations to running one of the wineries. More recently he has established a vineyard in the Riverland – considered one of the warm-hot irrigated regions known for large volume grape production – and has been planting more alternative varieties to show the potential for these grapes in the region, particularly for high quality fruit. He has now thrown himself 100% into Ricca Terra Farms, and even has other plans for the future.

I’m always happy to receive samples from wineries, particularly from wineries in the Hill-Smith Family Vineyards portfolio. I’m also always thrilled to be re-acquainted with a producer from my past, extra special when they are as historic as Eden valley-based Pewsey Vale. With such an incredible pedigree for riesling wines, I opened all three rieslings from Pewsey Vale on this edition of Let’s Taste, let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Pewsey Vale Eden Valley Rielings 2016 releases

Share this:

Like this:

In this the final of three parts, I taste the Rogers & Rufus Rosé 2016 from the Hill-Smith Family Vineyards portfolio. This is a rosé made from Grenache from the Barossa region of South Australia. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

On part two of three, I taste another rosé wine from the Hill-Smith Family Vineyards portfolio, this time the La Maschera Rosé of Granaxia 2016. This is a blend of Grenache and a splash of Sangiovese, and came from the Barossa Valley. Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Instagram

The Vincast

The Vincast - a Wine Podcast with The Intrepid Wino

Wine - Wine People - Wine Culture

A podcast about wine, wine culture and wine people. Every week a different guest from the wine industry joins host The Intrepid Wino (aka James Scarcebrook) for a casual chat about the world of wine.

All content on this podcast remains the sole property of the author unless otherwise acknowledged and appropriately credited. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of content without express and written permission from the author is strictly prohibited. Content may be used for reproduction provided that full and clear credit is given to James Scarcebrook and/or The Intrepid Wino with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Archives

All content on this website, including text, images, audio and video, remains the sole property of the author unless otherwise acknowledged and appropriately credited. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of content without express and written permission from the author is strictly prohibited. Content may be used for reproduction provided that full and clear credit is given to James Scarcebrook and/or The Intrepid Wino with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.